Lost and Forgotten
by Moonbeam3
Summary: Just when the Witter family thinks that their deep dark secret is finally forgotten by all...she's back to pay them a very unexpected visit.
1. prolouge

Author's Note: Hey everyone. Thank you soo much for taking time to read this. So here's whats going on in the story: The gang is all in their senior year of high school. But there's a secret the Witter family has been keeping for many years...  
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------  
Prolouge  
  
She smiled as she walked down the street. She glanced behind her at her two boys that were following her, then down at her little girl who was holding her hand. Isabella. She was three years old, had the most beautiful blue eyes, and this brown hair that curled, but only at the ends. 'God, she's great...my little angel' Mrs. Witter thought to herself. Isabella smiled at her as she ate her ice cream cone.   
"Hey! That was MINE, Doug!" Pacey screamed. "Uh, no I DONT THINK SO!" Doug screamed back as the two boys argued over the last Twizler. Mrs. Witter sighed, let go of Belle's hand, and turned around. "Pacey, Doug, now listen to me. Give me the Twizzler."   
The two boys looked at her as if their mother had gone totally insane. Mrs. Witter reached for the Twizzler and, of course, they gave it to her. She was after all their mother. She tore it in half then stated calmly while handing half to each of them, "Now here, and try not to argue over little things like that, okay?"   
The boys grabbed their candy greedily while nodding. Mrs. Witter turned around to talk to Belle, but she was no where to be seen.   
'Oh my god...where is she?!" she searched the street frantically.  
"BELLE!!" she shouted over and over again.  
"BELLE!! WHERE ARE YOU!?!"  
"Momma, where'd Bella go?" Pacey asked innocently. Then she spotted her friend, Lea Miller. She ran over frantically, dragging her boys. "Did you see where Belle went!?!" She screamed.  
"No, why, where is she?" Lea asked getting increasingly worried.   
"I dont know!" She answered finally breaking down. She totally lost it then and there. She collapsed on a bench and just cried.   
"You stay here, sweetie, I'm gonna take Pacey and Doug down to Ron's, I'll be right back, I promise." Lea said rubbing the heartbroken women's back. Then she walked the boy's to her husband's pizza shop.  
'I lost her. She's gone. My poor little girl. My baby. My poor little perfect angel...'  
After the 'incident' as the family called from that point on. One year later the Witter family moved to a small town in Massachusetts. Capeside. They never spoke of a little girl named Isabella every again after that.   
  
  



	2. seeing her

-  
ok, so here's chapter one...hope ya like it...lemme know if it totally sucks, be brutally honest...  
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------  
"Pacey!" Joey Potter yelled at her boyfriend as she ran after him down the hallway. After finally catching up with him, and running over a few people, she finally got him to slow down. "Where's the fire, Pace?" she asked now walking beside him.  
"Well, ya see, Jo, I have this thing called a job. And I show up there at a set time, which happens to be in 5 minutes, and they pay me money. Which I then spend on you." He flashed her a smile and took off at a jog.   
"Okay, Pace, I'll meet you at the B&B at 7?" Joey yelled after him. He yelled right back at her, "It's a date, babe!" and then he was gone.  
'What in the world did I ever do to deserve someone as good as him...' Joey thought to herself as she walked away from Capeside High tword her house.  
*~*~*~*~*  
Mrs. Witter was alone. In the house, at least. For once everyone was gone, somewhere or another. This was a rare occurance on account of her many children, and grandchildren. And there was always her husband.  
On this day, though, she was happy for the silence. It gave her time to think. She walked up to the attic, to the farthest corner, and sat down on an old chair. She reached down and picked up a cardboard box, buried under one labeled 'Gretchen'. This box, however, had no label on it. She took off the lid slowly and picked up the picture that lay on top gently, as if it would break at any moment. It was a picture of a little girl, about the age of 3. With brown hair.   
"My poor little Belle, my little angel..." Mrs. Witter said quietly to herself as she began to cry. She set the picture on another box she was using as a table. She fished through everything in the box, looking at it all. Savoring it. Hair from her very first haircut. A purple ribbon. Her favorite dress, the red one with the white trim...  
"Whatever in the world happened to you?"  
The front door slammed.   
Mrs. Witter must've jumped 3 feet into the air.   
'No, they're home. They can't find me looking at these!!' She panicked as she quickly tossed all the contents back into the box...but not before taking one last glance at the picture. She placed it in the corner and put the 'Gretchen' box back on top of it.   
'There, now no one will find it.'   
She sighed and then quickly ran downstairs as her husband came marching in.   
"What were you doing?" Sheriff Witter demanded. She wiped her eyes and looked at him. Drunk, again.   
"Oh, you know, just tidying up."  
"Then why the hell were you crying?"  
"Oh...you must know how dusty it gets up there...I'm allergic to dust."   
"Ok. What's for dinner? I could eat a cow!" Mr. Witter screamed as he stomped into the tv room.  
*~*~*~*~*~*~  
"You, Mr. Witter, are late." Dawson said from behind the counter at Screenplay Video. Pacey threw his bag down and plopped down in the seat Dawson had just gotten out of, "Sorry, man, had to make up a test."  
"Yea, well it helps if you tell me first."  
"Will do next time!"  
"I'm out of here, told Gretchen I'd meet her 10 minutes ago." Dawson ran out the door and in the process also ran into a group of kids. Pacey went outside to apologize for his friend, who seemingly wasn't affected by the pile of kids laying on the cement. He looked down the street just in time to see Dawson jet around a corner. He shook his head, laughed, and turned to the kids.  
"I am sooo sorry." Pacey said helping the kids up. "He was running late." A boy about the age of 16 or so looked at him and answered, "It's alright. Dosen't look like there's any broken bones. Everyone ok?"   
There was about 5 or 6 kids...and they were all fine.   
"So, you guys aren't from around Capeside, are ya?" Pacey asked. He certainly didn't recognize them. "Naw, we're from Boston. We're on a class trip and this was a stop. We're staying the night, then we're gone." a small blonde girl answered.   
"Ain't all that interesting, is it?" Pacey asked, already knowing the answer. They all laughed, "No, not really, what do you guys do for fun?"  
'These poor poor kids.' Pacey thought to himself. 'At least they're leaving tommorrow. Cause there is nothing to do around here.'  
"oh, yea, there's TONS to do in Capeside!" Pacey exclaimed, trying to make the kids feel better. Suddenly there was a commotion across the street as a little brunette girl about the age of 14 ran across and nearly got run over. "Bella!? What are you trying to do!? Get yourself killed?!" The blonde boy screamed running over to her.  
"Yea, Josh, that's exactly what I was trying to do..." the girl said while sitting down on a bench. "Get killed so that I can say I was the ONLY person to die on the trip..."   
"All I'm saying is be more careful, your mother would kill me if anything happened to you." Josh replied while holding her arm and making her stand up. "Oh, I'm so sure she would!" Bella replied, her voice dripping with sarcasm. "C'mon...See ya later, dude." Josh called to Pacey as they walked away.  
'Ok, now Pacey, that was just a coincidence.' Pacey said to himself as he sat down on a bench. 'That was NOT, nor will it EVER be, your little sister. Isabella is gone. She was kidnapped. She's probably dead. That was not her...' He took a deep breath, then stared after the kids.   
"But what if it was?"  
  
  



	3. at the movies

ok, so I apologize for taking so long...but I have been unbelievably busy. I'm not doing all that well in school (heh heh, oops?) But I promise to write the next few chapters this weekend! Thanks for reading, you guys!!  
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------  
  
Joey glanced around Dawson's room. His mom had said he was there.   
"Dawson?"...no answer. "Hello?" she called again a bit louder.  
"Joey?" Dawson's head all of a sudden sprang out from under the bed. Joey jumped about 6 feet high.   
"What the hell are you doing under there?!" she asked getting down on her knees to talk to him as he crawled out.   
"Well, you see, I have this old box of just...crap. And I needed a picture of myself as a baby for a project..." Joey raised an eyebrow.  
"It's an art class, Jo." She still gave him a weird look, then shook her head to clear her thoughts. "Ok, the reason I stopped by was...well, Pace was supposed to stop by the B&B at 7, and he didn't show."  
"Uhm....actually, the last time I saw Pacey was..." Dawson laughed to himself.  
"What's so hilariously funny?" Joey asked.  
"Well, see, what happened was...today he showed up for work late. So I was late to meet Gretchen. So I just ran out of there like a bat outta hell. And accidentally ran into these kids. Last time I saw Pace, he was talking to them out front of Screenplay."   
Joey sighed. "Alright. Thanks, Dawson. Call the B&B if you hear from him, ok? I...I just want to know that he's alright." Joey smiled at Dawson, halfway under the bed.   
"Will do, Jo. Now back to the picture." Dawson slid himself back under his bed, taking a flashlight in his teeth.   
"Bye Dawson!"she screamed.  
"Bye Jo!" He hollered back sticking his hand out under the dust ruffle and waving.   
*~*~*~*~*~*~*  
Pacey ran down the street quickly. He was headed toward his sister, Gretchen's, house. Well, he lived there, too. But technically it was her's. 'I gotta talk to Gretch...she'll know what to do, she always does.' Pacey kept thinking to himself as he approached their beach house. He shoved his key in the front door, opened it, and slammed it behind him. \  
"GRETCHEN!?!" He shreiked at the top of his lungs.   
"GRETCHEN!!" He yelled again as he ran from room to room.   
"GRET...chen..." he said as he breathed heavily, seeing her sitting on the couch, staring at him, smiling.  
"Yes, Pace? Need something?" She said sarcastically. "Why dontcha sit down and explain to me why you're running around the house like a crazy man." She said as she stood up to get him a glass of water.   
He didn't drink it, he inhaled it.  
After sufficiently hydrating himself and calming down enough to talk, he began to tell Gretchen the story.  
"Ok...now dont freak out. Ok?  
"Looks like you've freaked out enough for the both of us, Pace."  
"Promise?"  
She sighed. "Alright, I promise! Now, tell me what's got you so hyped up!"  
Pacey took a deep breath. 'Just say it Pace. Just say: I saw Isabella. It isn't that hard, you idiot.' he thought to himself.  
Gretchen stared at her brother with a concerned look on her face. "Pace?"  
'Now or never, man. Just say it.' He took a deep breath. "Gretchen...do you remember when we were really little...well, you weren't. Anyway, you remember Bella, right?" Pacey asked hesitantly.  
Gretchen shifted on the couch. "Pacey. We're not supposed to talk about her."  
He sighed. "I know that! But, do you remember her?  
"Of course I do, Pacey. How could I not? Belle was my little sister."  
"Ok, well, if you like...saw her now, would you know, just by looking at her that it was her?" Pacey leaned toward his sister. "Would you?"  
"I honestly dont know, Pace. I mean, how old is she now? Like 13 or 14. She would look real different, Pacey."  
Pacey was getting impatient. "But what if she didn't look different!? What if you saw her...and it was like looking at a big Bella?! Would you be able to recognize her? Would you know it was her?"  
"I dont know, Pace...why are you all of a sudden asking about her? You have never, not once, since the incident, asked about Belle. What's going on." Gretchen asked, probably the most serious that he'd ever seen his older sister. He didn't answer.   
"Pacey, did you see Isabella?" Gretchen asked taking Pacey by the shoulders.   
He didn't answer.  
"Yes or no, Pacey." Gretchen said getting more forceful. "DID YOU OR DID YOU NOT SEE ISABELLA!?!" she screamed while shaking his shoulders when he wouldn't answer her.  
"PACEY!" She screamed stepping back. He sighed and looked at her .  
"I dont know..." When he said this, she blew up.  
"What do you mean 'YOU DONT KNOW'!?!?! Pacey, if you SAW our LITTLE SISTER, I STRONGLY SUGGEST you telling me THIS INSTANT!!" She began to pace back and forth in front of her brother, pointing her finger accusingly at him. "Because, Pacey, If you choose NOT TO TELL ME! Your personal safety is AT RISK because I'm going to-" she stopped and shoved her face up close next to his to emphasize her point-"BEAT YOUR BRAINS IN!!!"  
Pacey sighed.   
"WELL!?!" Gretchen screamed.  
"Yes." he said blatantly.  
Gretchen, in shock, fell back onto the couch.  
"I think her and her friends were headed toward the Rialto to see a movie. They're in town on a trip. Leaving tommorow."   
Gretchen jumped up dragging Pacey with her. She grabbed their jackets and dragged him out the front door, not bothering to close it. She jumped in the driver's seat of her car and Pacey jumped in the passenger side.   
"If that was her, I sure as hell am NOT letting that little girl leave Capeside."  
Gretchen hit the gas and they were off.  
*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*  
Joey approached Pacey's beach house for the second time. This time, when she knocked, Gretchen didn't show up at the door. The door was already open, it just blew open when she went to touch it.   
'Oh my god.'Joey thought, instinctively thinking the worst. She walked toward the family room, finding the sofa cushions all out of order she panicked.  
"Pacey?" she hollered, hoping he would answer her. "Pace? It's Joey. Are you here!?!" she rushed from room to room. She didn't find him  
"PACEY!?!"she screamed one last time. She ran outside. 'Joey, don't freak out just yet. Pacey's fine! He's gotta be.' she thought to herself as she looked around the outside of Pacey's house. "No car."she said to herself.   
Gretchen's car wasn't there.  
"They must of just gone out." she said to herself again, trying to logical. Joey walked back inside and wrote a note to her boyfriend letting him know she dropped by and to call her ASAP. She left the house, closing the door, and started to walk into town, where she figured she'd see a movie, since her date with Pacey was obviously off.  
*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*  
"Hurry up, Pacey!" Gretchen screamed as Pacey attempted to dig out his money for the movie tickets. "GOD, Pace! Could you be ANY slower?!?"   
"Here."Pacey said as he threw a 10-dollar bill at the girl in the ticket booth and grabbed the two tickets to the movie. He handed one to Gretchen and they practically ran into the theater. It was halfway through the movie, which happened to be "Charlie's Angels."  
"I love this movie!" Pacey exclaimed as they stepped in and saw Drew Barrymore licking a steering wheel on the screen.   
"You would." Gretchen answered as she tried to find the kids. "How many of them are there?" She asked.  
Pacey looked around, trying to adjust to the sudden darkness. "Uhm...that's them, right there." He said pointing to a group of about 9 or 10 kids sitting in a few rows near where they were standing. Gretchen grabed Pacey's arm and said, "C'mon."as she dragged him to the row behind the kid's.   
They sat down and stared at the two rows of teenagers.   
"So...Which one did you think was her, Pace?" Gretchen whispered.  
Pacey glanced over the kids. He spotted all the ones he'd seen earlier that day, but not Bella. "I dont see her, Gretch." he whispered.  
"What do you mean you don't see her, her friends are here, so she's here, FIND HER!" Gretchen whispered to her brother more loudly than she meant to. One of the kids turned around. It was Josh.  
"Hey, you're that dude from today. The one who's friend trampled us!" Josh said.  
Pacey sighed and glanced at Gretchen. "Yea, that'd be me. Josh, right?"   
"Yea, I never caught your name, dude."  
"It's Pacey."  
"Cool name. Real...unique."   
"Uh, thanks."  
"I'm gonna watch the movie now. See ya."  
Pacey thought about it for a second, then knew this was his chance. "Hey Josh?"  
"Yea?" He turned around again.   
"How's that friend of your's, the one that almost got hit earlier?"  
Josh laughed. "Oh, you must mean Bella. She's fine. She went to the bathroom and to get some popcorn." He waited for Pacey to say something. "Anything else?"   
"No, thanks Josh."  
"No problem, man." and then Josh went back to watching Cameron Diaz drive a race car down main roads.  
  
Just then, the theater door opened. Gretchen squeezed Pacey's arm and they both stared at the person who entered. Pacey leaned toward Gretchen and whispered, "That's her."  
Gretchen stared at the brunette in awe. There was very little light, but the likeness was uncanny. They had the same brown hair. The same brown eyes. Pacey was right. That was her. "Oh my God..." Gretchen whispered, to no one in particular. "I know." Pacey whispered back. "It's her, isn't it?" He asked. Gretchen sighed. "How can it not be?" she asked in return. Then she knew what she had to do.   
Gretchen leaned forward and tapped Josh on the shoulder, he turned around, beginning to get annoyed. Bella turned to, she was sitting next to Josh.   
"Hi, Josh was it? My name's Gretchen, I'm Pacey's older sister. Where are you kid's staying tonight? I'm just curious." she flashed him a sugary-sweet smile.   
He laughed doofily. "Uhm...uh..."   
Bella couldn't take it, she exploded with laughter and then looked directly at Gretchen. "Hi Gretchen. Yes, this is Josh, and yes, he's a total moron. We're staying at a nice little place called the Potter B&B."   
Gretchen smiled at her sincerely. "Thank you. I hope you have a nice trip. Goodbye."   
Bella smiled. "Bye Gretchen."  
  
Bella turned back around and heard Gretchen and whoever was with her leave. 'What was his name...Pacey? What a strange name.' Bella thought to herself. 'But then, why does it sound so familiar?'  
*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*  
Joey walked into the Rialto just in time to see Pacey, followed by Gretchen bust out of the theater showing "Charlie's Angels." She ran toward him.  
"Oh my god, Pacey!" she shrieked as she threw her arms around his neck. "Thank GOD you're alright!" Pacey looked at Gretchen confused.  
"Whoa, wait a sec, Jo." He pulled her off of him so he could look at her. "Why wouldn't I be alright?"   
Joey began to get upset. "Pacey! You were supposed to meet me at the B&B at 7! You never showed." Pacey sighed. "Jo, I'm soo sorry, this thing came up and I totally forgot."  
Joey continued her story: "So I went to Dawson's, and he was under his bed and he didn't know where you were, so I went to your house, and the first time Gretchen was there, but then when I went again, she wasn't. And the door was WIDE open. I mean, not even closed. And all the couch cushions were going this way and and that, and I thought someone had brutally murdered you or something!" She screamed waving her arms in the air.   
Pacey looked at her. "Joey, I'm fine. Gretchen and I really need to go now, though. Something really important came up and we have to go talk to my mom and dad and Deputy Doug now." Joey looked confused.  
"You both hate them." she stated blatantly.   
Pacey sighed. "Why dont you just come, sweetie, ok?"   
Joey, still confused, answered after a moment. "Alright."  
*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*  
Gretchen pulled her car up in front of the Witter house. She glanced into the back seat at Pacey and Joey. She opened her door and looked back at them again. "You ok, Pace?" Pacey glanced at Joey. "Yea, but you're talking." Joey looked at him. He looked at her. "You comin in Jo?" He asked taking her hand. She smiled and started to get out, nodded and said a very satisfactory, "Mmmm-hmmmm."  
  



	4. telling them

Sorry for the wait you all…lost the disk I had many a chapter on so this is all re-done…hope you like it.

---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

The three approached the Witter household's front door. 

Joey hung back not exactly knowing what this was all about, but at the same time 

knowing that Pacey needed her to be there for him right now…and that was what she intended to do.

"You first, and you're talking." Pacey said rather calmly when they reached the front door. Hand on the door knob, frozen there, Gretchen looked at her brother, "You ready?" Pacey breathed in a deep, shaky breath and closed his eyes for a second. He opened them and replied semi-confidently. "Yes." 

Gretchen turned the doorknob slowly and they entered the home they grew up in, where their parents lived…but they couldn't, for the life of them, understand why they were so scared.

* * * * * * * * *

Mrs. Witter sat in her arm chair, concentrated on the book she was reading. The warm light from the lamp on the end table caste a glow across her face, as well as the book. She lifter her head slowly at hearing the front door open; taking her bookmark off of the table, carefully marking her page, and then gently resting the book in her lap.

"Yes? Who's there?" she asks.

"Mom? It's Gretchen and Pacey…" Gretchen yells as she tries to compose herself. She takes a deep breath and then steps into the living room, where her mother was reading. "Is Daddy home?" Gretchen asks, praying fervently that he is, and at the same time that he isn't.

Mrs. Witter smiled. "Why of course your father's home…I'll just run up and get him." she said as she stood up and walked upstairs to get her husband.

The moment their mother leaves the room all hell breaks loose. 

"GRETCH!" Pacey scream-whispers, "What the hell are we going to say to them?"

Gretchen rakes her fingers through her hair and bangs her hand against her forehead. "I-I don't know. I have no clue!" she screams, exasperated.

Joey looks from one sibling to the other and asks, "Well, maybe…ya know…I could help if I knew what all this was about?" Gretchen and Pacey look at her. Gretchen plops down on the couch, "go ahead and tell her…the whole town's bound to know in a matter of milliseconds…"

Pacey sits Joey down on the couch, glancing toward the stairs to make sure his parents aren't yet coming, and then sits down next to Joey and begins to explain. "I have a little sister, Jo. Her name's Isabella." Joey looked incredibly confused, but didn't argue. With that, Pacey explained the whole thing very quickly, "And so she's here, staying at your B&B, right now. And we have to tell them." Pacey concluded

"Wow." was all that Joey could say because Mr. And Mrs. Witter were now descending the staircase. As per usual, Mr. Witter was his drunken self. 

"What do you want?" He asked sitting down in a la-z-boy across from the 3 kids, as Mrs. Witter sat down next to him

Pacey looked at Gretchen.

"It's about that incident…with Belle." Gretchen tried to begin, but was abruptly cut off, like a machete slicing through saw grass, by her father. "What the HELL did you just say?" he paused, "you know we don't talk about that! And this conversation is ending right now!" He screamed.

But Gretchen protested. "You don't UNDERSTAND! Pacey-" Once again she was cut off as her father leaped to his feet and began yelling like there was no tomorrow. With this Pacey leaped up and looked his father straight in the eye.

"LOOK, if you would bother to LISTEN to your CHILDREN, you may find out that I, yes I-PACEY WITTER-the GOD of FAILURES finally did one thing right!" He took a deep breath and let his father speak.

"Well, then enlighten me, son, what the hell was so GREAT that you think you did? LOST YOUR LITTLE SISTER!?" his father screamed at him.

Pacey lost it. "NO, you BASTARD!" he screamed…and then an eerie calm came over him, "I found her."

Mrs. Witter looked to the sky as her eyes began to well up with uncontrollable tears, 'Thank you Lord, my angel…'


End file.
